Unions ask Parliamentary candidates to pledge to raise school funding

The NUT, ATL, NAHT and GMB are asking every candidate in every constituency in England and Wales to promise that they will address the funding crisis in our schools, which will see schools facing cuts of up to £3 billion a year by 2020.

The four unions have today updated the Schools Cuts website – www.schoolcuts.org.uk – so that voters can email each Parliamentary candidate asking them to oppose cutting the funding for every pupil in real terms in schools. By putting a postcode into the website the candidates in the area will appear and the website enables everyone to send an email to each candidate asking them to oppose the real terms funding cuts for schools.

At the last general election the Conservatives promised to protect the money ‘following your child into school’. This is a promise that was broken and we are now seeing the worst cuts to school budgets in a generation.

The 20 constituencies with the biggest per pupil cuts are:

Constituency

Change per pupil 2015/16 - 2019/20

Bermondsey and Old Southwark

-£1,107

Camberwell and Peckham

-£1,083

Poplar and Limehouse

-£924

Hackney North and Stoke Newington

-£921

Hackney South and Shoreditch

-£907

Hampstead and Kilburn

-£898

Bethnal Green and Bow

-£891

Dulwich and West Norwood

-£886

Chelsea and Fulham

-£885

Vauxhall

-£883

East Ham

-£871

Holborn and St Pancras

-£870

Hammersmith

-£854

Streatham

-£824

Putney

-£800

Nottingham East

-£787

Tottenham

-£771

Liverpool, Riverside

-£770

Manchester, Gorton

-£754

Birmingham, Ladywood

-£743

The national average cut is -£470 per pupil.

All constituencies will be hit. Using the Department for Education’s funding data, our calculations show that 99% of England’s schools will lose out. (1)

Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Parents, pupils and teachers are seeing the devastating effects of under-funding and the largest school cuts for a generation. No one ever voted for this. School funding cannot be fair until it is sufficient and so taking £3billion a year from schools can only lead to greater unfairness. Every candidate in every constituency needs to be aware of these figures. The NUT is calling on all parties to invest in our children and commit to reversing these cuts.”

Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Schools are already struggling to make ends meet, cutting subjects, staff and support for vulnerable children and asking parents for money. This is only going to get worse with the extent of the cuts schools face by 2020. We urge all Parliamentary candidates to pledge to invest properly in education and not divert funding to expensive free schools or selective education which only benefit a small minority of children.”

Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “The government expects schools to make £3billion of savings by 2020. These reductions put the stability of the whole education system at risk, and we call on all political parties to commit to addressing this shortfall. To fund education fully and fairly, the next government must reverse the real terms cuts that schools are facing and provide enough money to make the new national funding formula a success.”

Tim Roache, General Secretary of the GMB, said: “Our schools are being run into the ground and children’s life chances are being trampled over by this attack on education. The hard work of school support staff is being undermined by devastating cuts that will see 99% of schools the length and breadth of the country lose out. We need to see these cuts to pupil support reversed and a genuine commitment to fund our future.”